Thomas James Matthews (3 April 1884 – 14 October 1943) was an Australian

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cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. Bowling

leg break Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

s, he is the only player to have taken two

hat-tricks A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in the same Test match.

International cricket career

"Possibly the best all-round cricketer Williamstown has produced", Matthews played in eight Test matches for the

Australian cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) an ...

, two in Australia in the 1911/12 season, and six in the

1912 Triangular Tournament The 1912 Triangular Tournament was a Test cricket competition played between Australia, England and South Africa, the only Test-playing nations at the time. The ultimate winners of the tournament were England, with four wins in their six matches ...

in England. He played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for Victoria in the seasons from 1906/07 to 1914/15, playing in 67 first-class matches in all, although 28 were played for Australia on the 1912 tour of England. He is famed for being the only player to have ever taken two

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

s in the same Test match. In the opening Test of the 1912 Triangular Tournament, playing against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

, he took a hat-trick in each innings. He took the last three wickets in South Africa's first innings, to prevent them avoiding the

follow on In the game of cricket, a team who batted second and scored significantly fewer runs than the team who batted first may be forced to follow-on: to take their second innings immediately after their first. The follow-on can be enforced by the team ...

; later the same day, 28 May 1912, he took a second hat-trick in the second innings. None of the dismissals required the assistance of any fielders: the first

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

was bowled, then two were

leg before wicket Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed in the sport of cricket. Following an appeal by the fielding side, the umpire may rule a batter out lbw if the ball would have struck the wicket but was instead in ...

, then another bowled, and finally two more caught and bowled. South African

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

Tommy Ward was his third victim in both hat-tricks, being the only known instance of a

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on debut in Test cricket. Matthews took no other wickets in the match, giving him match figures of 6

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

s for 54 runs, but he did take a further 9 wickets in the series, including 4/29 in the fifth match of the series, again against South Africa.

Football

Prior to becoming an international cricketer, Matthews played

Australian Rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

for Williamstown in the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

in 1903, 1905–1906, 1908–1910 and 1912–13. He also played 12 games for St Kilda in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

in 1907, kicking 18 goals. He was primarily a full-forward, and his 46 goals for Williamstown in the 1906 season was the second-highest of any player in the VFA that year; He also led the Club goalscoring with 30 goals in 1910. He played a total of 81 games for Williamstown and kicked 134 goals.

Military service

He enlisted in the First AIF in July 1915, and was discharged on medical grounds in November 1917.

Post-war

Matthews worked as a groundsman at Williamstown Cricket Ground. He died at the Caulfield Military Hospital on 14 October 1943.Deaths: Matthews
''The Argus'', (Friday, 15 October 1943), p. 2.

References

Sources

A Testimonial is Being Organised for Cricketer Jimmy Matthews
''The Sporting Globe'', (Saturday, 3 February 1923), p. 4.
Chaffey, E., "An Appeal for Distressed Cricketer (Letter to the Editor)"
''The Age'', (Tuesday, 6 February 1923), p. 10.
Matthews Helped: Good Response to Appeal
''The Sporting Globe'', (Wednesday, 14 February 1923), p. 8. * Atkinson, G. (1982) ''Everything you ever wanted to know about Australian rules football but couldn't be bothered asking'', The Five Mile Press: Melbourne. . * Fiddian, M. (2016) ''The VFA: A History of the Victorian Football Association 1877 – 1995'', Melbourne Sports Books: Melbourne. ISBN
National Archives of Australia: World War I Service Record: Thomas James Matthews (3837)

The Australian War Memorial Collection: World War I Embarkation Roll: Matthews, Thomas James (3837)

The Australian War Memorial Collection: World War I Nominal Roll: Matthews, Thomas James (3837)

External links

* * *''Cricket's Unsung Legend – The Jimmy Matthews Story'' by James Brear, 2012. Published b
Ken Piesse Cricket Books.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Jimmy 1884 births 1943 deaths Australia Test cricketers Victoria cricketers Test cricket hat-trick takers St Kilda Football Club players Australian cricketers Williamstown Football Club players Cricketers from South Australia People from Mount Gambier, South Australia Australian rules footballers from South Australia